The Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue Board of Commissioners ended up in a stalemate over whether to turn over ambulance service to the county, which in turn would put some ambulances in Lehigh and man them. The board voted two to two. Commissioner Julie Barrett, the fifth member of the board, who could have broken the tie was not at the meeting due to an illness.

Fire Chief Don Adams asked the board for direction and said that if Lehigh turned over ambulance assistance to the county, Fire Station 105 could reopen and more personnel could be put on fire trucks. He urged the board to take his recommendation in the wake of what he said was the upcoming fire season in Lehigh.

Commissioner Ralph Hemingway balked and said the people should have a right to meet and discuss the issue before giving up its ambulance service.

Richard Pringle, the board attorney, met with county officials a few weeks ago and they said they could add Lehigh to the duties of the county transport service for which Lehigh Acres taxpayers have been paying for in taxes – in the millions – anyway.

At one point near the end of Wednesday’s monthly meeting at Veterans Park Community Center, Joel Guzman tried to convince Hemingway that if the department turned its transport service over to the county, then Station 5 could reopen.

It is located on Milwaukee Blvd., not far from the new East Lee County High School and a growing neighborhood of homes.

Also joining Hemingway in his protest to not vote for the measure Wednesday was Commissioner Dave Adams. Both Commissioners Joel Guzman and Commissioner Jeff Berndt voted to let Lee County handle Lehigh calls.

Pringle said the response time for county ambulances to report to different areas of the county is a little less than nine minutes. He said that however was an average.

Hemingway said people in Lehigh don’t want to lose their ambulance service and said that when he is in the grocery store, he hears it all the time from the people.

Guzman shot back: “Then Mr. Hemingway, where are the people tonight. They are not here.”

Only about a dozen people turned out for the meeting and most seemed to favor handing over the ambulance service temporarily to the county until financial conditions change.

In August, the chief laid off 37 firefighters in order to balance the new budget.

Several in the audience feared that firefighters would be in danger with less personnel on fire trucks if others were required to stay back to man ambulances.

After Guzman explained the situation to fellow commissioner Hemingway that Station 105 could be reopened, Hemingway did not change his mind.

Hemingway seemed not to understand that by moving ambulance service to the county that the Milwaukee Blvd. station could reopen with 30 days.

“You want me to make the motion again?” Guzman asked almost at the end of the meeting.

Hemming nodded his head no and said he still wanted to give the people a chance to be heard.

Guzman noted that the issue has been talked about for the past six months at meetings.

After the meeting, Chief Don Adams, said he was disappointed.

“I had the safety of my firefighters in mind when I made the recommendation to the board,” he said.

“We are facing the fire season and I don’t want to see any of my people injured because of the lack of personnel on equipment,” he said.

The matter will not come up for a month from now when commissioners meet in November.

Chief Adams addressed the issue in a letter he sent out on Oct. 8. All the commissioners said they received the letter a few days afterwards, but Hemingway said he just received the letter a day or so ago, which brought laughter from the audience.